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Assess Security and Boost Innovation, Says RSA Exec
4/14/2008
"Cyber criminals will continue to take advantage of legal blind spots and weak penalties until countries, especially the United States, update their laws and provide more resources for law enforcement," he said. "Let's punish criminals, not businesses."
Coviello led a lineup of keynote speakers, among them Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as former Vice President Al Gore, who is scheduled to speak on Friday.
Chertoff, the first DHS official ever to speak at the conference, finished off the morning program on Tuesday. He talked about the potential danger of cyber threats in the modern world, saying that they are now "on a par" with the terrorist attacks of 9/11. A cyber attack could have "cascading effects across the country and the world," he said.
"We take threats to the cyber world as seriously as we take threats to the material world," he said.
To support his assertion, Chertoff cited the cyber attacks on the Baltic nation of Estonia last April. Malicious hackers bombarded Estonia's computer systems after the controversial decision to move the "Bronze Soldier" Soviet-era war memorial. The large and sustained denial-of-service attack that followed targeted government Web sites and public services.
"Imagine, if you will, a sophisticated attack on our financial systems that caused them to be paralyzed," Chertoff told his audience. "It would shake the foundation of trust on which our financial system works."
Chertoff appealed to attendees to pitch in and "send some of your brightest and best to do service in the government." It would be "the best thing you can do for your country."
The annual RSA security conference has grown from a small gathering of security geeks and cryptographers to a sprawling event that fills two wings of San Francisco's Moscone Center. RSA 2008 featured 240 sessions, 500 speakers and more than 350 exhibitors, organizers said.
John K. Waters is a freelance journalist and author based in Palo Alto, CA.
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